Birmingham: Defending champions India will aim to live up to their tag of title contenders and dominate Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the Champions Trophy cricket tournament on Thursday.
Bangladesh rode on a record partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmadullah to beat New Zealand by five wickets in their last match in Group A.
Apart from scoring a brilliant century, Shakib also bowled economically. Mahmudallah will also look to add strength to the side’s batting while openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar will have to give the team a good start against India.
Pacer Mustafizur Rahman will be the key in the Bangladesh bowling line-up.
The Bangladesh bowling line-up featuring the likes of pacers Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza alongside spinners Shakib and Mosaddek
India, led by Virat Kohli will look to play ruthlessly and dominate Bangladesh right from the start.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have done well so far.
Besides the openers, Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have been in good nick and have the capibility to snatch the match away.
The Indian bowling department is also balanced with frontline pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav alongside spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Hardik Pandya will also look to provide breakthroughs in the middle-overs.
Kohli may look to experiment in the bowling department against Bangladesh, having benched Yadav to include Ashwin in their last Group B match against South Africa.
Since 2007, India have met Bangladesh seven times in ICC events. India lead the head-to-head battle 6-1 with Bangladesh having defeated India the last time in 2007. (IANS)
